UPenn student: ‘I know I’m unsafe,’ anti-Israel activists plan escalation

Students are facing unsafe conditions at the University of Pennsylvania because of hostility and escalations by anti-Israel encampment activists and the failure of the administration to address them, UPenn student Eyal Yakoby told The Jerusalem Post on Friday.

“I know I’m unsafe,” said Yakoby, a senior studying political science and Middle East studies. “I know that they plan to escalate.”

Yakoby published on social media on Monday what he claimed was an internal encampment document in which activists were advised to “be prepared to escalate your actions” and to build defenses and barricades. Fox News reported on Friday that they had obtained multiple activist guides such as Flood the Gates: Escalate and Do-It-Yourself Occupation Guide 2024 which explain how to create barriers and shields. Yakoby shared on X, formerly Twitter, on Monday that a protester had brought a slingshot and switchblade into the encampment.

“It has been frustrating to see the media report as though these encampments are peaceful,” said Yakoby. “How much more documentation and videos need to be released?”

Yakoby said that the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine’s flag had been erected at the encampment. At a Tuesday rally in front of the vandalized statue of US founding father Benjamin Franklin in which Marc Lamont Hill was a guest speaker, the flag of the US State Department-designated Foreign Terrorist Organization was waved from a prominent position. Yakoby on Monday shared a photograph of a protester perched on Franklin’s statue using the hand signal for the red triangle, used in Hamas propaganda to denote a terrorist target.

Support for Hamas 

“[Izz ad-din] Al-Qassam [Brigades], make us proud, kill another soldier now,” protesters had chanted in support of the Hamas military wing, according to Yakoby.

In addition to the defacement of the Franklin statue, Yakoby published other acts of vandalism of school property, and that two American flags that he had erected on Tuesday had been torn down and desecrated. Yakoby shared on X chalk writing that called for “death to the Israeli state.” The UPenn administration said Monday that the Button statue had also been defaced.

Jewish students have been faced with aggression from the protesters, who he said have been harassed and spat on. Yakoby on Friday shared a video of a student who was threatened with violence by a mob of protesters as he walked through the campus, and had a strobe light flashed in his eyes.

Yakoby told the Post that he and other concerned students had warned the administration about escalation, but had by Friday received no response. On Thursday, he had delivered a petition with 3,200 signatures demanding the removal of the encampment that had been erected on April 25, which also received no response.

DESPITE THE administration’s inaction, “We know the administration already believes the encampment is unsafe,” said Yakoby, since it had issued a statement on April 26 against violence and harassment, though the student noted that the problem had only intensified.

“Blatant violations of University policies and credible reports of harassing and intimidating conduct compel us to protect the safety and security of our campus community,” said a statement by interim president J. Larry Jameson and other administrators. “The vandalism of the statue in front of College Hall with antisemitic graffiti was especially reprehensible and will be investigated as a hate crime. As we have repeatedly emphasized, we will uphold free speech and the productive exchange of ideas, but we will not allow any actions that harass, threaten, or intimidate others.”

Yakoby said that since that statement, the administration had not communicated with the rest of the school on the issue, providing no leadership. Jameson issued a statement on Monday, calling for de-escalation and an end to the encampment, as “it is causing fear for many in our large, diverse community, especially among our Jewish students. But any response to the encampment must balance possible escalation of the current situation with the need to protect the safety and rights of everyone.”

“We are concerned that many of the protesters occupying the encampment on College Green are seeking such a confrontation. We have heard reports of circulating documents with instructions for escalating a protest, including through building occupations and violence,” said Jameson, listing almost all the dangers that had been related by Yakoby, expressing concern that non-student activists had joined the encampment.

Penn Freedom School for Palestine shared the encampment’s response on Monday, charging that he had not been negotiating in good faith and rejecting the idea that the settlement posed a threat, blaming counter-protesters for any confrontations.

“We are a nonviolent gathering of students and community members,” said the encampment. “By clearly prioritizing the safety of certain Penn students over others, you have deepened our community divide more than our movement ever could.”

Yakoby took to social media on Tuesday to dismiss the administration’s statement as “meaningless words,” and that since the encampment had grown and protesters had chanted “we don’t want no Zionists here” and one activist called to “Kill the Zionists.”

The violent statements join others related by Yakoby, including calling Jewish counterprotesters “Hitler Youth,” “Hitler’s children,” and “Zios get f**ked.”

Yakoby said that he was frustrated with the administration, which he believed had made a mistake by not removing the encampment immediately. This failure continued with a lack of action because of “moral indifference” and “a lack of courage.”

“Listen to your students, stick by your words, and ensure that the core academic mission of the university is upheld,” Yakoby called upon the administration.